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Governments
Governments In Escape Velocity Nova, governments, also called factions, are organized groups with a common goal. Among Nova's various governments are the Polaris, Federation, Rebellion, Aurorans, Vell-os, and some would say the Pirates, although the ladder is split into two groups that often work at cross-purposes. During the game, you have a choice of joining one of the major (and occasionally one of the minor) factions and gaining access to their ships and equipment. There are three main governments in Nova, and several smaller ones to work for in the course of the game. Factions Detailed information about factions can be gathered from the various "preambles" in the EV Nova "documentation" directory in the main game directory; these PDF documents contain miscellaneous roleplaying information about the races, including a timeline of the history of humanity. Federation History At the start of the game, the Federation is the latest in a line of Earth based governments. The first explorers from Earth to go faster than the speed of light used devices known as hypergates, developed by Omata Kane. Humans settled other habitable planets and quickly formed an organization known as the Colonial Council. The Council made first contact with the Vell-os, a group of telepathic humans who had left Earth centuries before and benefited from their advanced technology. Eventually a breakaway group of humans left the Colonial Council and settled planets beyond the star Polaris, taking that name for their people. When the Council recontacted the Polaris, it became clear that they would not tolerate any interference from the Council. When the Council sent a diplomatic delegation, it was never heard from again, prompting the Council to declare war on the Polaris. The Vell-os opposed this war, and destroyed the Council's invasion fleet before it reached Polaris space. A fifty year long war then broke out between the Council and the Vell-os. The Vell-os, being peaceful in nature, eventually surrendered to avoid further bloodshed and were enslaved by mainstream humanity. It should be noted that until they decided to sue for peace the Vell-os were undefeated. After the war ended, many of the colonies to the south seceded from the Council and formed a loose confederation known as the Auroran Empire. Once again the Council was thrust into war, this time to regain the lost colonies. Although they did not defeat all of the groups which made up the Aurorans, one group known as Armetis eventually turned to terrorism. One former council member, disenchanted with the Colonial Council gave Armetis the codes to the hypergate system. Armetis destroyed Earth's hypergate, which sent shock waves throughout the system, enough to isolate many of the former Council worlds. It took two hundred years before Earth based ships were capable of exceeding the speed of light. They recontacted many of the former worlds, which formed an alliance with Earth. Earth forces attempted to invade the Aurorans, with little success. As a result they decided to pool their resources and form the Federation. The Federation created an investigative body known as the Bureau of Internal Investigation. The Bureau, as it is known, was created to investigate and remove subversive influence in the Federation, but also pursues the goal of reunifying humanity under the Federation. The Bureau uses illegal and unconstitutional means to accomplish its goals. They also use the help of Vell-os slaves. Based in the Wolf 359 system, the Bureau is so pervasive that some Federation citizens charge that it runs the government. Many of the Federation's leading citizens have started a rebellion against the Bureau. Population Population-wise, the Federation lies somewhere between the Polaris and the Aurorans. Few references to the populations of Federation worlds are ever given. Yet Snowmelt in the Fomalhaut system, with 10 billion people, is described as being the most populous planet in Federation space after Earth, if Earth's artificial ring of spaceports and shipyards, the Kane Band, is included in that figure. It can therefore be assumed that the Federation population is somewhere in the high billions. Rebellion The Rebellion is in the middle of a war against the Federation, particularly the Bureau. The Rebellion claims that the Bureau has committed heinous crimes, and controls the Federation itself and that the Bureau should be removed from power. The Rebellion hates killing the puppets of the Bureau, but knows that there is no way of fighting the Bureau without destroying Federation ships. The Rebellion is vital in all of the major storylines, and the outcomes of all of them affect the Rebellion, and their war against the Bureau in one way or another. The Rebellion is more of an ideological faction than a political one; as such it only has control of two systems, Evlei and Koria, to the Galactic north of the Federation. Merrol in the Aldebaran system is the only Federation planet that is in open rebellion, but it is under permanent blockade by the Bureau. Auroran The Auroran Empire is one of the main political blocs in the game. They are the most populous of the blocs, but, since they remain largely disinterested in technology, are also one of the least technologically advanced. The Auroran population numbers in the trillions; most planets have at least one arcology that can house tens of millions of people, and the "homeworlds" of the six different Auroran factions each average a population of around 175 billion. As a result, many Auroran worlds suffer from severe pollution and overcrowding problems, and the colonization of new systems to relieve the burden of overpopulation is a major agenda. The Auroran Empire consists of five "Families" or "Houses" (Moash, Heraan, Tekel, Dani and Vella). Each of the five families fight with each other constantly. Additionally, there are systems governed by the "Auroran Empire". These systems do not belong to any family. They are governed by the central Auroran government. Their warriors love to tattoo themselves and engage in "honorable" combat, and their ships have very heavy armor. The Auroran weapons are very heavy but they deal a lot of damage. You can help the Aurorans by either passing through the Bounty Hunter storyline, or by having a high combat rating and entering any bar in Auroran (and sometimes Federation)space. Polaris History The Polaris are a race of technologically, and in some cases telepathically, advanced humans who broke away from the Colonial Council in 480 NC. The first expedition that ventured in the direction of the North Star was arranged by Kerrell Polaris, who unfortunately died 3 days before it was started. Over the next century, the Polaris encountered the Wraith, a space dwelling race of creatures that can utilize hyperspace. Nearly all encounters the Polaris had with the Wraith ended in bloodshed, which caused the Polaris to maintain an isolationist position. The isolationism of the Polaris, in turn, caused problems when the Colonial Council attempted to re-establish contact with them by sending in a diplomatic fleet. The Polaris misinterpreted this as an act of war, and destroyed the fleet. Outraged, the Colonial Council sent out an invasion fleet, which was stopped by the Vell-os — a cousin race of humanity with advanced telepathic abilities, who have always supported the Polaris. This sparked the Vell-os/Colonial Council war, which did not affect the Polaris. After the destruction of the Council hypergate system, the Polaris hypergates were still operational, allowing the Polaris to advance technologically. Just over 500 years later, the Federation (successor to the Colonial Council) sent a military task force into Polaris space, which the Polaris destroyed quickly. Technology In the 500 years after the hypergate system's destruction, the Polaris advanced towards more organic technology. Much of their biotechnological knowledge was gained by reverse engineering the Wraith. Polaris scientists discovered how to utilize polarons (a type of high-energy particle) to create practically massless torpedoes which cause great damage. They have also harnessed nuclear fusion and antimatter annihilation as reliable, high yield power sources. Society The Polaris have six separate castes, set up so that the skills of an individual can be best utilized by the caste he or she becomes a member of. The six castes are as follows: *Nil'kemorya — The warrior caste. Members of the Nil'kemorya consider their lives to be already forfeit, and await the day they will fall in combat protecting their society. *Mu'hari — The multi-purpose caste. They must assist any member of any other caste when asked. All Polaris judges and espionage personnel are members of the Mu'hari. *Kel'ariy — The leadership caste. All members must be at least 100 years old, and may come from any other caste. *Tre'pira — The worker caste. Members of this caste are considered the purest of all the castes. *P'aedt — The scientist caste. Members of this caste research to improve current, and develop new, technology. *Ver'ash — The healer/engineer caste. At one time the healers and engineers belonged to separate castes, but the distinction between the two shrank as the Polaris became increasingly bio-technologically oriented, until there was no need to separate them. Population Despite being spread over 30 systems (including two giant ringworlds), the Polaris are numerically few in number. In the Polaris Preamble included in the EV Nova documentation, the former Nil'kemorya leader Iusia expresses his regret for having to fight a civil war to end a conflict between the castes. That war resulted in the deaths of three million Polarans, or slightly less than one percent of the Polaran population. Going by those numbers, it can be assumed that the Polaris population is a little more than 300 million, about the population of the United States of America today. The low Polaris population compared to the Aurorans or the Federation is made up by their advanced levels of technology. Vell-os The Vell-os are a telepathic race. They were led out to space, united by their telepathic powers by the Indian prince Vell-os in around A.D. 980. The Vell-os don't exactly have "ships". What they fly are simply psychic projections made by the Vell-os inside. They classify humans and Vell-os who have telepathic abilities into six ranks, or "T"s. The lowest rank possible is T6 (all normal humans are at this level with no actual telepathic ability), and starting with actual telepathic powers at T5, continues downward until T0, the highest rank a telepath can ever achieve. No Vell-os in recorded history has reached the rank of T0. The Vell-os were originally part of the Colonial Council (which preceded the Federation) but seceded when they protested the Colonial fleet trying to invade the Polaris for crimes they hadn't committed. Following a devastating war with the Colonial Council, they were enslaved by the Bureau of Internal Investigation, a shadowy group which effectively runs the Federation. The Federation later evacuated the enslaved Vell-os to Federation space and proceeded to raze every inhabited Vell-os world via intense orbital bombardment, leaving dead planets with dangerously high radiation that will endure for millennia. The leaders of the Vell-os ruling council, the Krypt-tokh, escaped enslavement by fusing their bodies with their nanite-producing organs, becoming immense, immortal, telepathic space-roaming beings which ply the ruins of Vell-os space. The Krypt await the liberation of the Vell-os race as foretold in the so-called "Korell Prophecy." Reduced to a life of slavery, if the player plays the Polaris or Auroran storyline they get to free the Vell-os, or they can play part of this race, eventually freeing the Vell-os from the wicked enslavement of Commander Krane, the head of the Bureau. Outfits The Vell-os cannot buy any 'normal' armaments (apart from Marine Platoons). They do, however, have natural senses that make up for this. They have a hostility sense (analogous to an IFF Decoder), a physical size sense (gravimetric sensors), an ability to distract sensors (missile jamming), an ability to divide minds (able to create Vell-os Darts as fighters), the Vell-os Area Map (gives the player information about the surrounding systems) and four psionic "weaves" that are powerful weapons, as described below. Ships Vell-os 'ships' are not ships in the common sense. The psionic power of the Vell-os pilot forms the shell of the vessel. The ship is also powered by the pilot's mind, and all defenses come from the pilot. In essence, the ship is literally an extension of the pilot within. Vell-os 'ships' are usually very fast, with high shields and very low armor. Pirates Pirates represent the criminal side of the universe. There are many different branches of the common Pirates that mercilessly plunder and kill ships. In the game, they can actually disable and steal your goods and money, and leave you stranded in open space. There are the common and normal Pirates, who are strong and dangerous raiders who either wish to kill traders, or to disable them and steal their money and goods. They are most prominent in the north of Federation space, as this space is policed little. Marauders Next are the Marauders, who are small raiders and pirates who plunder in a small scale, and are usually nothing to worry about to well armed merchants. Their ships are usually normal civilian ships, slightly upgraded, although sometimes a Starbridge or Valkyrie joins in the fleet. The Marauders are independent raiders who have no real leader or government, and therefore make very easy foes, though they should not be underestimated. The Marauders are weaker than the 'normal' Pirates, though they attack within Federation space. They are also universally despised, even by other Pirate factions, so they will be attacked by any warship or interceptor of any faction in a system. Association of Free Traders The Association of Free Traders is a proud but dwindling organisation, and they are not usually classified as Pirates. They are actually guardians of Federation space, and their main enemy is the Associated Guild of Free Traders. They have created their own class of ships, which are civilian ships that have been thoroughly upgraded and tweaked, and fitted with a vast array of weaponry and Pirate technology. They also have ships that they built themselves, like the Manticore and the Pirate Carrier. The once-proud Association met its decline in power after a very strong Bureau fleet helped by the Guild of Free Traders attacked the Association. The Bureau invited the Association leader, Morgan, to a peace-treaty, which turned out to be an ambush, helped by the Guild of Free Traders. The main ship of the Association, the Unrelenting (a very powerful Pirate Carrier) was destroyed along with other capital ships. Morgan, his crew and his wife met their death there, and the leadership of the Association has been replaced by Olaf Greyshoulders. The Association has ever since been an enemy of the Bureau of Internal Investigation, though they are not in open war with the Federation. Guild of Free Traders The Guild of Free Traders are the most worrisome and dangerous group of Pirates. They have their own government, and their current leader is McGowan. They are far more organized, and frequently smuggle illegal drugs and other goods. They have many secret bases scattered in Federation space, and commonly do strikes and raids among traders and merchants. They do not use civilian ships, and instead they use Association ships that are heavily upgraded. The Guild of Free Traders, though enemies of the Federation, have ties with the Bureau of Internal Investigation. Houseless Warriors The other Pirate branch consists of the Auroran Houseless warriors. They are equivalent to the common Pirates in the Federation, and have similar strength and methods. Their fleet consists of Auroran civilian ships, gun ships and fighters. They normally attack in the center of Auroran space, and have their own base hidden inside an asteroid field.